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It's a scary thought. Computers have completely usurped pencil and paper. We all store our precious family pictures and important data on our computers and some of us go the extra step of securing this data from prying eyes through encryption, obscurity or at least strong passwords. Some of us manage data for others, too. Say you manage servers or websites. Would your family be able to get data to clients? Would they even know where it existed on your machine? Would your family know that as a webmaster there are many memberships you belong to or forums, chat groups, etc? Would your family be able to tell which of the 5 versions of patches and upgrades you have stored in each project's sub-directory was current or even applied?
As I age (40-something) I begin to consider the difficulties my own family would have in the event of my death. Ours is a typical household in that all Mumma and the kids want to do is happily compute and not bother with the details. Sure, it kills me a little but I accept it and we're all better for it ;) However, in our case we have maybe 15 years of data stored on various devices and media and sometimes it's encrypted. At the very least some data is archived and password protected, even on the cds I burned it to. Speaking of cds, would your family know that the expected life of a cdrom is ~ 10 years? Would your wife, husband, or child simply toss a cdrom into the trash that appeared to be non-working instead of knowing which utility to try to recover data. Would they know that mounting a cdrom can be trivially simple even if your fancy GNU/Linux system doesn't do it automagically?
Many of you don't have to worry about this at all. You run a version of Windows and that's it - no customer data, no encryption, nothing hidden, secret, protected, etc., etc., etc. Maybe you play fantasy football, maybe you have memberships to a few online destinations. But - what if you trade online? Does your spouse know the account? What about your kids, do they know? If you do your banking online does your spouse know which bank? You laugh and think that every family discusses these things at least periodically - but they don't.
As an immediate fix that doesn't go very far at all I have written up a list of my passwords for my family. My boy knows where it is and his sister and mother know that he knows. My boy takes this knowledge very seriously and even though he's all of 8 he is the right person to maintain this knowledge. It's limited, though, and there are only vague instructions on the page. For example he doesn't know that I have 7 different Gringotts files with different data in each. He doesn't know that I take advantage of Opera remembering account data for me that I merely have to ctrl+enter on any web page requiring credentials to log in. He doesn't know that I run a local web server to test projects or where my incredibly poignant musings are located. Heh.
I have tried to have small discussions with my family about this. I showed my wife the password list and reminded her that the boy always knows where it is. I showed her how I ssh into any servers that I might manage. She knows that our data is backed up regularly to the encrypted drive connected via USB to my laptop. However, in her fashion, most of this information is immediately dismissed. WOOT - gotta love her.
Guidelines are in order. There are will kits that we can all buy, and similar, but are there "kits" to help mitigate this problem? I think computing professionals need to have similar and to be honest I don't know if they do, I haven't checked.
Keep a list of all software related to backing up data and or securing it.
Relevent security software
- gringotts
- pwdgen
- cryptsetup
- etc...
Keep a list of how each program is used and where the data it accesses it located.
Data Location
- gringotts - files are in: /secret-drive/documents/household/gringotts
- gringotts - files are in: /secret-drive/projects/gringotts
- cryptsetup - secures the drive plugged into the laptop, see below for mounting and unlocking instructions:
$ sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 terms
$ sudo mount /mnt/terms
Open file manager with mapped shortcut: winkey+f, see shortcuts to data on left side of window: terms, documents, etc.
Keep a list of all your web associations: forums, memberships, accounts (banking, utilities, etc.) facebook, etc.
Projects, Memberships, accounts
- Regularly show your family how you log into your membership sites and yes, even facebook.
- Keep a list of clients that you may have
- Keep a list of your projects and how to access them and the data
- Leave instructions on how to "untar" your archives
- Create instructions of how to access servers whether they are for clients or your own projects
Keep a list of user accounts that are on the machine, even root, and include login credentials:
machine users:
machiner - uname=machiner password=whatever that may be
guest - uname=guest password=whatever that may be
root - uname=root password=whatever that may be
Instruct your family on how to update your machine (not obligatory). Keep a list of trusted associates or locally accessible friends that are knowledgeable enough to know or at least learn about how to get your data. No, you don't have to give these people your credentials but they have to know what to do with programs you use or even that you use them.
Keep data unencrypted in a secure location. I know, it's contrary to good practice but this is your less-than-savvy family we are talking about - you died, pal, they are out-of-sorts. They don't need the extra stress of deciphering your madness, they need to know that the info they need didn't die with you. Let your family know that you keep a back-up trove of cdroms, or usb sticks, or whatever in the garage in a box marked "stuff to keep", or whatever.
If you do manage or create data for others then you likely bill them for time spent. Perhaps you use a time-keeping program. Let your family know this so they can open the program, see your records and determine if you are owed compensation for current projects. They may need the money and it's owed you anyway.
If you have a collection of porn then let your family know that there are directories they may not want to enter. Seriously, you may want to shield your family from your degenerate ways ;) If you do have such a collection I hope it's only on your personal computer.
Make a list of directories and files that your family can delete without ever opening, encrypted or not.
If you are a criminal leave instructions on which program to run in order to wipe your drive. Just because you're a bad-guy doesn't mean that your family will want to deal with that mess. You make the call, perhaps, as the survivor, you might turn the computer over to the police or FBI -- I dunno, it's your family.
There are many jobs that we have that require us to maintain some level of data on our personal machines at home. If others rely on that data, customers or family or whomever, then it's paramount that you leave detailed instructions behind ensuring that your family, customers, etc. can get to that data.
Please use the comment section below to add to this rough guideline. We love our families and don't want them to needlessly suffer or go without because we're so savvy.
--machiner 27 jan 2010
See Marco's article for more goodness (even though he uses Drupal ;) - If you died now, who would look after your digital YOU?. Our community ROCKS!
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